"Yesterday the pounding of the boat was so bad that I re-injured the rib that I think is fractured. Over the two weeks since the start of the race the injury had slowly gotten better, although sometimes it seemed like there was a sharp knife in my back when I was grinding the pedestal winch to hoist the main sail from one reef to the next (360 revolutions!)  The pain had eased until it felt like only a butter knife in my back instead of a sharp knife. Then yesterday, while resting on the chart table bench, we crashed off a wave and it felt as though everything that had healed in my back came undone. The rib felt broken and very painful again. I spoke with the doctor later in the day, and he, too, thinks that I cracked the healing rib again. Fortunately, he does not think it will take two weeks for the rib to get back to the healed state that it was in before yesterday. "

Rich Wilson (Great American III) in his log yesterday evening.

 

"So this is Martin Vaz.  Reminds me of home in Brittany, home sweet home. It has rained non-stop for almost three hours.  Unfortunately, as we were upwind, we were also getting covered in salt water,or otherwise, I would have got a good wash.  The seas are still just as confused, and it's starting to get a bit annoying.  They could fit in with the wind but clearly, they can't agree.  Not easy to get any rest, which I think I deserve after this battle. Going to have to put up with it. I could have booked a hotel here on Martin, but given the size of the island (3.4 miles across at its widest point), I don't know if there is one or if anyone lives here, maybe just a soldier being punished.  
Sorry, I got it wrong.  I don't know why but in my mind, Martin Vaz was to my west and Trindade to the east and as I was west of them both, I thought I was next to Martin, but no. So it's Trindade that is 3.4 miles across and Martin Vaaz includes three islands, the biggest of which is 0.39 miles across (about 800 metres) and is an amazing 175 metres high."

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) by e-mail

 

In this evening's rankings only 1.5 miles separate Jonny Malbon (Artemis) from Unai Basurko (Pakea Bizkaia) and the English sailor is determined to move up a spot in the rankings by tomorrow morning: 

"Whoop whoop, hopefully I can continue to be a little quicker and take a position by the morning.  I know Unai will want to keep it, so we will have a bit of a fight on.  Its so nice to be back in it.  The boat is going well, and its nearly time to shake a reef."

Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) covered the greatest distance of the day by clocking up 373.9 miles towards the finish over the past 24 hours.  This evening he is in 14th place, 386 miles from the leader.  

 

Dominique Wavre (Temenos) in 11th place, 253 miles from the leader, was sailing by the islands of St. Martin Vaz and Trindade  this afternoon with Brian Thompson on his port side.

"If I could have avoided going between the islands I’d have done so, but it’s down to the wind really, which pushed me this way. It’s always a little tricky when the sea bottom rises sharply. Here they go from 4000m to 100m, so I may still suffer the effects of the current and a bad sea state.  It was a very tiring night. I got virtually no sleep. I tried to rest this morning but with the wind filling in it was difficult as I had to trim the boat. Right now it’s shaking about so much down below that I’m unable to find a good spot to rest. I downloaded some grib files this morning and they mirror those of yesterday for the time being. The zone of high pressure is switching back to a more normal position, though the transition won’t be easy. There will be some calm zones to negotiate and it may well be a bit of lottery."  

 

"Safran is completely fulfilling our expectations.  She is the boat we were looking for and all the choices we made, particularly favouring a lightweight approach rather than power, are paying off.  But I do have to spend a lot of time carrying out adjustments.  The difference in speed from a boat like Pindar, for example (overtaken two days ago, and today 40 miles behind - editor's note) is not uniquely down to the design choices. We saw during the races before the season, that the speed differential between the boats could be a quarter of a knot, not one or two, as is currently the case. It would be easy to ease off on the pedal, to say stop, as it is extremely uncomfortable. You take in one more reef in the mainsail and you go one or two knots more slowly, so there is less stress. That is not my choice, but at the same time I don't feel I'm taking any risks. I'm pushing her all the way, that's all."  Marc Guillemot (Safran) talking earlier today